


Coming to Collect

by Jordanicus_Prime



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Semi-Endgame Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24466030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jordanicus_Prime/pseuds/Jordanicus_Prime
Summary: Steve Rogers goes alone to Vormir to collect the soul stone. Upon realizing he must make a sacrifice, he thinks on his feet not thinking of what will happen when the stone comes to collect on his sacrifice.
Kudos: 2





	Coming to Collect

**Author's Note:**

> I am not a fan of Steve's ending in Endgame. This is my way of changing it but also framing it in a way that makes more sense to me. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!

Steve found himself alone, at the foot of a mountain. After dropping Rhodey and Nebula off Morag to find Star-Lord and the power stone, Steve made his way to Vormir to find the soul stone. Shield in hand the soldier stepped off of the ship and looked to the peak of the mountain. The pooling of dread in his stomach only assured him further that to find the stone he needed to go up.

After Nebula’s revelation that Thanos and Gamora both went to find the soul stone but only one came back, the team decided that the trip to Vormir should be a solo one. Steve volunteered to go, as he didn’t know much about Morag and he couldn’t stand the tension that still stood between himself and Tony. Steve shook his head, that was a problem that he could solve later, right now half of the universe depended on him getting the soul stone from this planet.

Thanks to his Super-Soldier abilities Steve could quickly scale the mountain. The hair on his neck stood up, he wasn’t alone. Placing his shield defensively in front of him, he scanned the surrounding rock on the mountains peak. A voice coming from behind a rock formation caused him to jump.

“Steven Rogers, son of Sarah.” the voice spoke, it sounded chillingly familiar.

“Who are you and how do you know me?” Steve growled in response.

“Captain, I am sure I need very little introduction.” A cloaked figure stepped out, or seemed to float out from behind the rocks. A red hand emerged to remove the hood and reveal none other than…

“Red Skull.” Steve whispered in disbelief. “How- you disappeared after touching the Tessaract… in 1945.”

“You and I both know that the Tessaract was far more powerful than we could have anticipated, Captain Rogers. It seems my desire to hold the stone was so powerful that I have been assigned to guard another.” Red Skull’s voice held no animosity, his former beliefs and affiliations forgotten.

“You have the soul stone?” Steve asked, still on guard.

“I know where the stone lies, but I myself can never possess it.” Red Skull explained, he pointed to the opposite side of the mountain’s peak, to a sudden drop off. “You’ll find the stone there.”

Steve carefully moved to the cliff and chanced a glance over the edge, his eyes swept the bottom of the chasm and found nothing. “Is this a joke?” he huffed, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

“In order to claim the stone, you must give up that which you love… a soul for a soul.” Red Skull drone, like this was a speech he memorized.

Steve snorted, “Well, it’s just me here, I can’t give my soul for the stone if I want to walk away with the stone.” He moved over to a nearby rock and dropped down to sit on it, brows furrowed as he tried to figure out a way to get the stone.

“I mean, even if I wasn’t alone, there’s not much I could give up, everyone I’ve cared about is gone, Peggy, the Commandos, I finally make a life here and everyone here’s been taken away either by Thanos or those damn Accords.” Steve dropped his head into his hands, feeling defeated. “I mean there’s a handful of people in my life that’ll even talk to me in a friendly way, even if they were here, I’m not trading lives.” Steve’s face hardened at the thought of sacrificing one of the few people he still had for the stone. In his mind he’d never be able to.

“How can I get the stone?” Steve asked, glaring at the man who once tried to kill him, who was now simply observing. Steve was almost offended by how bored Red Skull looked while Steve was struggling with the mystery of how to bring back half of the universe.

“As I said, you must give up that which you love… a soul for a soul.” Red Skull repeated, even more monotone than the first time.

Steve pulled his compass out of his pocket, the one that contained a picture of Peggy. It was the only thing he still had from his old life, everything else had either been destroyed, sold, lost to time, or it was in a museum. This was Steve’s last reminder of what he had lost and the item he often found solace in. He couldn’t begin to count the number of times he’d looked at the picture. This was his most treasured possession, it felt more like a part of him than his shield did. The shield represented Captain America, the compass was Steve Rogers. Steve rose to his feet, staring at the compass and the picture of Peggy before setting his jaw, one thought on his mind. He slowly walked to the edge of the cliff and squeezing his hand around it one last time, he threw it over the edge. Although there was no physical exertion from the action, Steve was panting and on the verge of tears.

“What do you think that will accomplish?” The Red Skull asked, suddenly interested in how Steve thought that a compass was comparable to a soul. 

Before Steve could come up with an explanation, he was enveloped in a bright light and then everything went dark.

When Steve opened his eyes again he found himself lying in a pool of water, in his hand where the compass had been previously a bright orange stone was resting in his palm. Having completed his mission, Steve rose and made his way back to the ship. A dread similar to the one he felt climbing the mountain now sitting in his stomach, there was no way he only lost that compass.  
\------------------------  
When all of the Avengers reconvened in 2023 with 6 stones in their hands and several more stories to tell, Natasha caught up to Steve as they prepared to put the stones in the gauntlet.

Natasha was recounting the side trip herself and Tony had to make to the facility where Steve got his powers to get the Tesseract and more Pym particles.

“You should’ve been there Steve we saw your girl.” Natasha teased.

“Peggy?” Steve asked, getting his answer when he saw her smirk. “What year did you go to again?”

“1970,” Natasha explained, “you should’ve seen her, the head of SHIELD in all her glory.”

Steve smiled, maybe once everyone was back and the stones needed to be returned, he could volunteer. After all, why have time travel if it can’t be used?

Those plans were put on hold when a ship larger than any he’d ever seen burst through the time machine right as Professor Hulk snapped his fingers to undo the damage Thanos had done.  
\-----------------------

The silence that came after the battle with Thanos was the most empty sound Steve had ever heard. The only things going on around him were small poofs as Thanos’ army turned to dust.

Steve watched the Mad Titan himself sit down and accept his fate. For a Titan, he looked so small as he disappeared into the wind.

The only thing more deafening than the silence was the clang of the Iron Man suit as Tony Stark collapsed and took his last breaths on the battlefield.  
\-------------------------

Tears were shed, flowers were laid, a funeral was held. 

For what should’ve been a joyous time after the defeat of Thanos, Steve could only think that he’d rather be anywhere else. The grief that surrounded his was all-consuming, not only was he grieving a friend that he desperately wanted to make amends with, to the 5 years that he grieved for his friends that seemed to have been reopened with their reappearance. For half of the world, they had grieved for 5 long years, they were harder, different people, most of which had moved on. The other half had their world completely turned upside down and came back to a world that had adjusted to their absence. 

Steve longed to be somewhere where the world didn;t feel like it had lost as much as he had.  
\---------------------------  
Steve stood on the time machine with Mjolnir and the stones in hand. Bruce instructed him to return the stones and the hammer to where he had found them and that he’d bring the soldier back in 5 seconds.

Steve nodded his understanding but knew fully well if everything went according to plan he wouldn’t see this spot again for a few decades.

He felt himself be pushed through time and his mission began.  
\--------------------------

Steve found himself on Vormir again, it felt like it had been years since he’d been on the planet but in reality it had been a few short weeks. This was his last stop, he’d already returned the previous stones and Mjolnir, it felt fitting that the soul stone was returned last.

Steve scaled the mountain again, this time with less urgency than the previous. As he approached the peak, Steve waited for just the right moment, to return the stone to the exact moment he got it. Once he felt enough time had passed, he approached the cliff where he would return the stone. 

“Back already?” Red Skull asked, having seen the same man run off with the stone a few minutes before. 

Steve scoffed, for him he had fought an impossible battle but for Red Skull it had been 5 minutes. 

Steve turned and tossed the stone over the edge of the cliff. He never heard the stone hit the bottom and figured that it went back to…. wherever it had come from, waiting for a new sacrifice to bring it back into play. He waited, looking over the edge of the cliff, waiting for something.

“You won’t get your trinket back.” Red Skull seemed to read his thoughts. “The point of the sacrifice is that you don’t get what you lost back.”

Steve nodded and turned to leave. The dread that he and the stone had unfinished business nagged at his mind. Maybe that’s why Tony had to die, the soul stone collected its soul after the fact. To Steve there felt like there was still unfinished business.

Steve went to press the button to time jump again, his mission completed. But, he hesitated, he knew his plan. Steve didn’t plan on going back to 2023, it didn’t feel right anymore. He’d lost everything, gained something new, lost it all again, but it all came back for the most part. But, he couldn’t bring himself to trust it, he grieved and lived in a post-snap world for 5 years and those who came back didn’t go through any of that. The dissonance was painfully jarring.

Steve planned to go somewhere where things made more sense to him, to reclaim what he originally lost, any chance at a normal life.

Drawing in a sharp breath, Steve pressed the button and went decades into the past.  
\------------------------

There he was at her front door, he knocked with a shaky hand, sweating at the prospect of seeing her again.

She opened the door and his heart swelled.

Peggy

Steve smiled from ear to ear at her and waited for her to recognize him.

She didn’t.

She frowned and stuck her head out of her door and looked up and down the street.

Confused, Steve assured, “It’s me Peggy. Steve. This isn’t a trick, I’m actually here.”

Peggy made no indication that she heard him. She closed her door, having never seen the soldier that stood on her doorstep.

Steve’s stomach dropped and he felt as if he was going to be sick. The stone did come back to collect from Steve, it may not have taken his soul but it did steal his heart. When he threw his compass, that picture of Peggy, that symbol of what could have been over the side of that cliff he threw away his future with her.

Steve sat down heavily on the steps leading to Peggy’s door, processing his discovery. He felt something wet hit his hand and it was then he realized he was sobbing. The dam finally burst and he wept. He wept for the snap, the 5 years, Tony, the emptiness he still felt because everyone was back but dammit he still felt like he lost something, and he wept for the what ifs that would never come to be. He didn’t need to worry about Peggy hearing some lost man sobbing on her front steps, she would never hear or see Steve again.

Once his breathing settled and his tears dried Steve stood and prepared to go back to 2023. His plan had failed but he wasn’t going to give up on his life. Not knowing what would come next, Steve pressed the button and finally left the past behind him, never to go back.

**Author's Note:**

> I may do a part two of this where we see Steve adjust to life on 2023. I wrote this with the intention of this being an angsty one-shot but I am a fan of resolving angst. Ideas and input are welcome and let me know if a part two is something you would want to see!


End file.
